Discovering the capitals of West Africa

West Africa is not the first region people think of travelling to, especially from the west. The capital cities are often where the most money may be – in any country, not just in Africa – and they often can shine a little light into the past as well. Some cities show evidence of an …

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Photos from the ‘Other’ Bali – Cameroon

Howdy all, hope this post finds you well. One of the highlights of my time a few years back now in Cameroon was a visit to the village of ‘Bali’. For Australians, ‘Bali’ generally will only ever mean the Indonesian island where we flock in droves. (not me, not yet!) In fact, I would presume …

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Transport Adventures – West Africa

Yes, back to West Africa again. Transport in West Africa is possibly THE reason to go if you’re seriously into adventure. I say this because every journey in West Africa is a major adventure. From tro-tros to share-taxis to buses and even the occasional train, West Africa is not for the feint-hearted who like smooth …

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3 Spots on Sunday – Countries in West Africa

Imagine that you had time off and wanted to explore West Africa. Regular readers know this is one of my favourite regions of the planet, one I have visited on no less than four separate tricks. But it often doesn’t rate much of a mention on many people’s radar – it’s out of the way …

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Little Places – Saint Louis, Senegal

A few hours by bumpy transport from the Senegalese capital Dakar (320km), out on its own couple of islands, is the sleepy fishing town of Saint Louis. Interestingly Saint Louis was the capital of Senegal as a French colony from the 17th to late 19th century, and so yes, it certainly is a ‘colonial town’. …

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Little Places – Ouahigouyah

Border town. (well, actually still a wee bit from the border) Dry. Dusty. Hot. The last town in Burkina Faso before I moved on to Mali over ten years ago now. I don’t remember much, perhaps because there wasn’t much to remember, but I do remember that the streets were wide, and I didn’t see …

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Small Places – Djenne, Mali

Djenne is a pretty special place. A small town on the less-populated side of the Niger River. As I wrote in my recent post on Mopti (Sunday Spotlight – Mopti) I visited on a longish day-trip from Mopti. Actually, half the fun of the day was the amazing journey from Mopti to Djenne and back, …

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Little Places – Ganvie, Benin

One of Benin’s most visited attractions is the stilted-village of Ganvie. It really is a bit of a tourist trap in some respects I guess, it’s on the Lake of Nokoue, and that is a short ride from Benin’s main (but not capital) city of Cotonou. If you are visiting this West African nation, well, …

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